


Coin Operated Boy

by ssleif



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe, Get Together, Meet-Cute, Multi, Pre-Relationship, XD, and maybe some sedxytimes, android!elliot, but there may be some adult vingettes, but they meet!, i feel a powerfl urge to just capture some discreet scenes, idk how cute, is a much longer fic, that i will not be writing this season, the fic where they reach relationship tatus in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22098832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssleif/pseuds/ssleif
Summary: Parker retrieves Android!Elliot from Moreau, but can't make the equation end in profit without Hardison. This is how they all meet.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 11
Kudos: 78
Collections: 2019 Leverage Secret Santa Exchange





	Coin Operated Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [phnelt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phnelt/gifts).



> For Phnelt for the Leverage holiday exchange, inspired by one of her prompts. Hope it works for you!

Parker is frustrated. 

She’d put a lot of time, energy, and money into this job, and now she can’t even get her stupid prize to turn on. 

Hauling the thing to her safe house had almost been a challenge too far for her, heavy as it was, and respectable enough as the security system had been… but she was banking on the pay-out being more than worth it, in lovely things like blackmail, black market secrets, locations of vaults, safes, and safehouses, and bank account numbers. Only, for all of that, she first needed the thing to turn on.

All her meticulous examination, however, hasn’t turned up so much as a charging Port that she can see, only a small little symbol on the back toward the top, which she guesses my be a logo, possibly the logo of the Damn Security system that’s keeping her way from all those rich, delicious bytes of profit.

Begrudgingly, she capitulates and reaches out for the backup she knew she might have to call, but really really hadn’t wanted to.

She’d worked with Hardison before, a few times, first, when she had come upon some information, and then a program, she knew to be exceptionally valuable, but that was all she knew. She’d had to shop around a little, dropping hints as to what she had, but eventually she’d gotten a rendezvous with him, from which they’d both profited handsomely, once he did his thing. The next time, she’d make token noises about looking around, but come straight to him, and they’d both been ambushed by a third party, eagerly avoiding letting them escape with similar profit a second time. They’d wriggled free, and Hardison assured her later that he’d fleeced the man for all he was worth. (which she had known already, having seen the man crying about it in his prison cell.)

By now, they’ve even worked a few marks start-to-finish, and though Parker didn’t usually see the point in “friends”, even she was willing to admit they had at least graduated to colleague status. Plus, he was fun to work with! There was so much more adrenaline when the person jumping off the building next to you was screaming! (okay, jumping was a generous description, but still)

So this time, the message she sends Hardison is succinct. She has a device, suspects it contains something valuable, and would like some tech wizardry to get past the defenses. If Hardison wants to come do the actual hacking to get at the info, (and maybe even wipe and resell the device, which itself is quite valuable) then he’s got a substantial chunk of the profits that are his to claim.

Hardison is a little skeptical, but readily agrees to meet her in a mutual safehouse.

—

It’s a goddamn Andriod. And not just any android, oh no, it’s a very specific Android. Hardison resists the urge to turn tail and split before those pants-wettingly scary grey eyes open and his guts are suddenly spilling onto the floor like the terrified tauntaun he is. But the Fucker doesn’t move, and the ringing in Hardison’s ears starts to die down enough that he can make the connection, realize that to get this weapon she must have had to rob—

“Damien Moreau??? Seriously Parker? Parker???? Do you realize what you have here?? This is Moraeus personal bodygaurd. Personal. This is the thing Moreau trusts to take care of him above and beyond all other things!”

“Exactly. Think how much he knows!”

“Parker, h- this is a machine. A terrifying, shit-your-pants-dangerous machine.”

“Yeah, but they’re kind of people, aren’t they? When they are this advanced?”

“Okay first, that’s a myth. Nobody’s even reliably recorded or admitted to one. And secondly, Parker, I don’t think you understand. It’s a Weapon. WEH-PUN. And a really effective one. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this in action, but it’s…”

He breaks off shuddering, remembering the first time he saw that quiet little signal pop onto his radar… and watched the team he was with just start. Going down. One by one they blipped out, and then the little dot started coming for him, and he Bailed. Never regretted it.

The same fate met the second group he ended up pursuing Moreau with, and for the third pass, he finally saw the thing in action. It looked human at first, but then it moved fast enough that the fuzzy security feed Hardison was watching struggled to catch it. He immediately pulled the cord on the whole op, as soon as he worked out what it was, and as his wheels squealed into the night, he remembers looking into the rear-view for a moment and catching a glimpse, not very tall, but solidly broad, with long dark hair loose around its shoulders, and pale eyes that caught the security lights just enough that Hardison had wanted to throw up.

That was the last attempt he’d made on Damien Moreau. As far as he’d been concerned, the slimy asshole could keep his money, and his guard dog too.

“… have to, and-”

Hardison realizes Parker’s been talking.

“Wait, you have met him? It. You’ve met it?”

“Well,” Parker tilts her hand, so-so, “More I’ve watched him. From high up and far away until he noticed me. Which he almost always did. But he never did anything to hurt me, or told anyone I was there, as far as I knew. He seemed kind of lonely.”

Hardison cannot believe he is hearing this.

“Parker. It’s a big, scary fast gun. If you think it won’t shoot you, just because—”

“I don’t think he likes guns.”

Hardison boggles. Parker continues.

“He has them sometimes, and sometimes he even draws them, but usually he makes a face a little bit, like he doesn’t like a taste, and he almost never fires.”

“Doesn’t like a— Parker be serious.”

She looks taken aback, and he checks himself and backs off a little.

He sighs.

“Okay, Maybe it’s smart, and maybe it doesn’t care for guns, but that still doesn’t make it benevolent. Or a Demon, I guess. Or a person! Just because you think he- It! Just because you think it has, like, opinions or whatever, doesn’t mean—”

“We could ask him?”

“Parker! Ask him???!!?”

—

They decide to ask him. Against Hardison’s best judgment.

—

So Hardison takes on the thankless task of trying to boot— Without Wiping!— a super secure Android that might murder him in gratitude if he succeeds. 

It takes several days— which is clearly several days too many for Parker, who is becoming increasingly obnoxious in her boredom, but he can’t care about that (and suspects he actually would find it cute, if he wasn’t so absorbed in his very very dangerous project).

Hardison finds several ports, but the android remains unresponsive. He knows he’s probably looking for some kind of override switch, but for a long time, all he can find is a small indentation in the Android’s hairline, behind his left ear. Hardison suspected it was where some kind of contact sensor might be pressed, maybe an emergency stop or control, but without the corresponding piece (likely a ring or bracelet— easy to wear the key), he hadn’t had any luck at all on that front. Very likely, it was after-market security, and there were a few too many companies dipping toes in that market for Hardison, whose specialty this very much was NOT, to be able to hack in two days.

But finally, on the third day, he let out a shout of triumph, and Parker came swinging down from the rafters.

“Okay, this is it. It looks like he was coded to Moreau’s voice, passcode and voice print, and then an aftermarket security system built in where, if the key contact isn’t tapped within moments, the system locks and broadcasts a location and alarm. He has a primary hardline hook-in though, likely for advanced diagnostics, and for the original factory programming, and I got a ping back and sent a trojan in and we’re hopefully good. I know damn near everything about this model now, down to his chipsets, and I can boot him… well, it’s a little like booting in safe-mode and only running the systems you want at startup? I can now run just some of his systems, or all of his systems except some, and that’s what we’re gonna do. Boot him without any of the security protocol. I’ve partitioned that alarm system and the voice activation system separately, since it was added aftermarket.

“But if he wakes up and is pissed…”

Hardison thinks he can shut him down again, but Parker doesn’t think they have to take that chance.

Because while Parker was stewing for those three days, she was coming up with an insurance policy. If the robot woke up and made any threatening moves, she had a line she could pull and a very very large counterweight would fall, pulling the metal man off the ground and straight up. If he was as good as Hardison said he was, he would likely be able to get himself down… but they would have enough time to bail. 

—-

Elliot hasn’t always worked for Moreau, but he’s worked for Moreau for a long time, now. He learned many new skills and protocols while in Moreau’s service, but he came with plenty of his own style in the first place.

A little too much, had been Moreau’s opinion, and so within the first year, Moreau had had him modified, had a kill switch built, had programming added to keep him docile and obedient and… responsive. It suppressed certain self-preservation behaviors that may otherwise have conflicted with serving Moreau… and just generally gave the man the control he sought in all aspects of his life.

Elliot’s just grateful it never made him like his service.

Oh he’d never been belligerent or anything, he wasn’t really human enough for that. He knew what he was, and what Black Ops had had him commissioned for, and if it wasn’t always his preference, well, there wasn’t all that much he could do about it.

There really wasn’t anything he could do about it.

[And then a brilliant hacker with more skill than sense locked all that shit away. Took the leash off the dog… and flipped the switch]

The first indication to the two thieves is actually a full body tensing before the eyes slowly slit. Elliot sees the ceiling, tracks the little blond one first, standing to the side, notices the cable she’s holding, feels a similar cable tied around his ankles.

Feels himself attached to a hardline. Hears the whir of computing equipment, feels the heat. Puts that together just as, oh, a man sitting siting in the midst of the screens starts to speak--

“Hey man-”

Eliot moves, jerks away, rolls off the table, triggering the snare. His feet go up, but he’s anticipating it, lunges so he’s holding the line, using the tie as a stirrup.

Freezes crouched in the air on the line.

\--

The android does not immediately slip the line and kill them. It hangs patiently, unnaturally still in the air, watching them.

“Okay, man, take it easy.” Hardison raises his hands in placation, as if he really might be intimidating enough to be a threat. Parker is edging around to come at the man from another angle, but he is clearly watching her, and tenses as she moves. She stops.

“Who are you. How did I get here.”

The words are quiet, almost inflection-less, save for the edge of unmistakable threat.

“Ah, well, about that,” Hardison begins.

“I stole you!”

Yeah, this was going to go well.

Fin

PS:

It takes about thirty minutes to hash everything out to everyone’s satisfaction, and maybe another twenty after that to get everyone kosher enough to be dropping ropes and freeing folks and making no sudden moves. But more or less an hour after Hardison initially ran the protocols that woke their new guest, all three of them are seated once again, this time on the squashy sofa and chair Hardison had insisted on bringing in if he was gonna work in this friggin’ warehouse (and, let’s be honest, crash and sleep here too).

And Hardison knows that he’d been wrong. This was not a tool. He— he called himself Elliot? (code name Spencer, which just about made Hardison piss himself because fucking knew that name, holy shit what this, uh, being could do to them). This was definitely a… person maybe? Intelligent, capable, complex. Opinionated. Real fucked up.

He was understandably skittish, but he was skittish the way a wolf, bear, or big cat was. Like, obviously it would rather Not be in your presence. Like, you definitely make it uncomfortable. But you both know that when push comes to shove, like, you’re gonna regret this moment more than it will. 

Anyway, they will clearly NOT going to be selling it for parts.

They are selling nothing.

PPS:

Okay maybe Hardison and Parker have come to enjoy each other, all right? And Elliot-the-murder-bot needs help. And also purpose. It’s clear, once they are able to make it clear to him that they rescued him, and that they want to know what he wants to do with his life… Hardison offers to make it so that no one else can do what he did, and also so that Moreau’s failsafe is, uh, safe. From Moreau. 

And at no point in Elliot’s not-life has he ever really had cause to experience Gratitude, so he’s not sure at first what’s going on. But Parker is good at explaining emotions in a ways that computes for folks who rarely experience them, and so Elliot is able to identify the feelings in the end.

Eliot is so fucking grateful. And absolutely intends to burn Moreau. What else is there to do?

“Well,” Parker says, “It’ll be more fun as a group activity.”

It very much will not be fun, Hardison figures, but if they can take Moreau out, there might be quite a payday in it for them… in addition to it being their good deed for a lifetime.

So they’re agreed. Let’s try it. Let’s take him out. Let’s be a team. 


End file.
